Season's Greetings ~~ Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

It's christmas once again and very soon, it will be the start of a brand new year! Here are some of my christmas wishes and hope Santa will fulfil them all... wah, so greedy of me.. haha!

1) Hope I'll have a chance to go on tour to any part of Europe, Japan or Korea next year with my family or friends.

2) Hope I'll get a nice, interesting and fulfilling brand new job (with a higher pay of course!) in the coming new year.

3) And lastly, hope that I'll find my Mr Right real soon... next year perhaps? :p

突然，有所领悟。。。

今天，在工作上发生了一段小插曲。我很“不幸”地因为一名同事而被卷入其中。事后，虽然耽误了一点时间，但事情也总算解决了。我也就没有把事情放在心上。
但是，放了工没多久，这名同事突然传了个简讯给我，承认刚才的事是她的错，并向我道歉。我这才发现她为了这件事耿耿于怀，为刚才没有承认错误而连累我感到内疚。其实，我是明白为何这名同事在大家面前不肯承认错误，事后才私底下向我道歉。那是因为她在某个程度上是个完美主义者，不容许自己在别人面前犯错，更拉不下面子认错。事实上，我觉得这名同事把自己的生活搞得太辛苦了。正所谓，“人非圣贤，孰能无过”，我认为犯了错就应该勇敢承认，从错误中学习，而不是因为担心别人怎么看你，故意隐瞒事实。
这名同事也因为斤斤计较的个性，导致人缘很差。她也时常为了一点小事耿耿于怀，搞得自己以及周围的人都不开心。从她的身上，我领悟到了好些生活的道理。我们应该懂得接受和放下，不要让生活上无数琐碎的事成为自己的负担，毕竟人生苦短，我们又何必为自己增添更多烦恼呢？

Sherlock Holmes Gala Premiere

Received an email last week stating that I have won myself a pair of tickets to watch the preview screening of Sherlock Holmes through the Twinings contest I joined recently... :) The gala premiere was today (21 Dec) and I invited sis along to join me. There was also a free goodie bag for each of us which consist of two cute canisters of Twinings earl grey and english breakfast tea. We went in just in time after a quick dinner at Secret Recipe... phew...

The movie was good and I enjoyed it a lot. I like the quick and witty humour as well as the intelligence portrayed by the main character (Sherlock Holmes) in the movie. The main setting of the movie is in London (where Twining teas originate from. :D). I've been to London for a short trip before and I missed it! It was really nice to be able to "feel" London again from the movie, just that it was seen in a different era. Looking at the parliment houses and the Big Ben in some scenes from the movie really brought back fond memories... :)

PS: By the way, Twinings teas are really good... haha :)

My Cool Cuppa... :D

Went to Bugis after work today to do some last minute shopping and here's the mug I couldn't resist buying for myself. Cool message aín't it? :))

Christmas @ Orchard

Time really flies. It's gonna be Christmas once again. Went down to Orchard area after work hoping to mingle with the christmas shopping crowd and get myself into the cheery festive mood. :D

The beautiful Christmas tree outside The Heeren.

Along Orchard Road (outside Ngee Ann City)

Along Orchard Road (outside Centrepoint)

Movie Day - 2012

My friend who works at Nparks invited me to this Movie Day organised by her company to watch the epic blockbuster movie 2012 on a Saturday morning. Cheers to all companies who have a movie day! :D

The first question that probably comes to the minds of audiences watching the show: "Is 2012 really the end of the world as predicted by the Mayan calender?"

Well, that was what the movie was trying to portray anyway. That 21 December 2012 is indeed the end of the world, but strangely with the exception of one surviving continent (which continent you'll have to watch the show... enough of spoilers now. :p). Personally, I find the plot average with some loopholes here and there and definitely has room for improvement. However, the effects in the movie are superb and is definitely the "wow" factor of the show. This is one point that makes it worth the ticket price. The climax was when Jackson (played by John Cusack) gathered his family for the great escape and the world came tumbling down just inches behind the limo he was driving.

The movie sure has its mix of laughter and tears. There were a few touching moments which will surely bring tears to the audiences' eyes. Just to name a few:

When the brilliant geologist/scientist Dr Adrian called his father to tell him about the secret of the world coming to an end and expressed his worries for him. His father cried and told him that he was the best thing that ever happened in his life and that he was so proud to have him as his son.

When Adrian's father's friend finally plucked up the courage to call his son after so many years, it became the last call that his son didn't even get to answer.

When Adrian's friend, the Indian physicist called Adrian to bid him goodbye... (he and his family didn't get picked up and died in the catastrophe)

Despite the average storyline, the superior effects of the movie did not disappoint. It's worth the watch. Go grab your tickets now! :))

My Adoption Kit is Here!!! :)

I was so excited when I saw the large green envelope bearing the WWF logo in my mailbox today. My adoption kit is finally here! I had expected it to reach most probably around end of November but it had reached earlier than I've expected. So glad the mail reached S'pore safely from the US. :) Can't wait to explore it's contents....


The kit and it's contents.


My cute dolphin plush up-close.


Certificate of adoption

November Meetups!

This week has been a tiring but fulfilling one. Had at least 3 meetups just this week alone... lolx... Met up with sis for dinner at Mad Jack Cafe after work on Mon. It was our first time eating there and I find the food quite nice and the price reasonable (plus there's no service charge...:D)

The food at Mad Jack Cafe

On Tue, I met up with a uni friend for lunch at SGH (where I worked) and also had a small birthday celebration for sis back home at night.

On Wed, I met up with sis again for buffet dinner at Cafe Brios @ Grand Copthrone Waterfront Hotel. I like the food and ambience there. The only downside was that the hotel was not exactly situated at the best location. It was not that easily accessible by bus (due to the limited number of buses passing through). The walk from Chinatown to the hotel takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cafe Brios

On Thurs, I met up with another friend for dinner at Tampines after work. We ate at the japanese gourmet town at Tampines One. My friend and I had not seen each other for quite some time and I was glad for the get-together. Although it was a rather tiring week for me, I find the time spent fulfilling as it was really good to be able to meetup with old friends for some catching up. :)

PS: the bad thing about my whole week endeavour was that I had a little too much to eat... argh... getting fatter...:(( time to go on diet...

I adopted a Dolphin!!

Happy Halloween, people!! On this special day, I did something special too. Yea, you read it right... :p. I adopted a dolphin!! You must be wondering how on earth did I adopt a dolphin... haha. The truth is, it's just a symbolic adoption I did on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website. I paid US $50 for my symbolic adoption kit which consist of an adoption certificate, a high resolution photo of my new "pet" and my very own dolphin plush in a gift bag! :) This was something I had been yearning to do for ages and I'm so glad to finally accomplish that. It feels really good to be able to adopt one of my favourite animal as well as to contribute to WWF's conservation efforts around the world. The shipping of my adoption package is expected to take about 3 to 8 weeks. I'm definitely looking forward to it in my mailbox.. :D. Interested parties can take a look at the 100 species available for adoption here:
http://www.worldwildlifefund.org/ogc/species_category.cfm

Macau

Some photos to share from my trip to Macau on 6th October 2009...

The Macau Venetian Hotel

The singing gondolier

The gondola ride

The 4-D laser screening inside The Bubble (天幕) at

City of Dreams Hotel, Macau

Casino Lisboa at night

Macau Fishermen's Wharf

The Ruins of St Paul

Memories...

of the blue skies...


the scenic river view...


the historic buildings along the river bank...


and the beautiful sunset...

Looking forward... :)

I'm so looking forward to my upcoming trip to Hong Kong in October. Not that it's my first time going there, but cos I'm really yearning for a nice trip right now. Well, besides HK, I may be able to go to Macau and Shenzhen as well. Yeah!!! I'm finally getting a break. I'm definitely looking forward to October right now. :)

仙剑奇侠传3

虽然不是仙剑的游戏玩家，但却很喜欢这部电视剧，也超爱片中许多动听的歌曲。:)

The Worst Days of my Life

The past 3 days were definitely the worst days in my life. I have never been so sick for a continuous span of 3 days, vomitted for almost 20 times over 2 days (Thank god the vomitting subsided on the 3rd day), and not eaten anything for 2 days in a row straight. Well, that was because my stomach practically reject anything that goes in, big or small, fluid or solid.
All this started on a Sunday afternoon when there was practically no doctors available unless you go to the 24 hours clinic kind or drag yourself to A&E at any of the hospitals. I got my dad to take me to the nearest clinic available at bedok but was stupid enough not to think of requesting the doctor to give me an injection. I ended up vomitting my medicine twice after attempting miserably to swallow them. I couldn't sleep at night as I kept waking up and continued vomitting my guts out several times throughout the night. It was terrible. I felt completely drained and exhausted. I almost wanted to rush to A&E in the middle of the night but my parents were already asleep and I didn't want to wake them up. I have practically no strength to drag my limp body up let alone go to A&E by myself. I had no choice but to wait miserably for the next morning and forcing myself to go to sleep.
The next morning finally arrived and mum took me to another clinic for injection. The doctor suspected food poisoning and gave me an injection and some medicine. When I told the doctor that the last few times I vomitted greenish liquid, he said that was actually bile since my stomach was already empty from all those vomitting. He told me I was seriously dehydrated and gave me oral salts for replenishment. When I reached home, I went to sleep while waiting for the injection to take effect so that I could take my medicine without vomitting. The first time round I managed to take my medicine successfully. The second time I took my medicine in the evening, I vomitted it out again. I slept until the next morning before taking my medicine again and some soup noodles (my first meal after 2 days). I felt slightly better but my stomach feels sore (or was it the emptiness?) and my body ached. I still felt drained of energy. It was absolutely a terrible time for me... :(

Are bloggers out there having the same problem???

There has been the same problem 9 out of 10 times I sign in to blogger.com recently. It's possible for me to sign in and post on my blog but the funny thing is that there wasn't any options for me to post pics/photos at all. The whole toolbar mysteriously disappeared to who-knows-where... Thought it was something wrong with my miserably lagging laptop at first but realized that there seem to be something wrong with blogger.com since I encounter the same problem signing in from other computers. Are bloggers out there having the same problem??

Happy Birthday Singapore!!

Happy Birthday Singapore! Happy National Day, people!! As usual, not-so-patriotic me went out with mum, sis and company for my shop-and-eat session today and totally missed the live NDP broadcast... :( Hope I'll be able to catch the repeat telecast then.

We went for lunch at Pu Tian Restaurant and dinner at Thai Express. After that, I went for a full classic pedicure and manicure at "mei ren mei jia" (directly translated into pretty people pretty nails) at Tampines One. Haven't done anything to my nails for ages since I wasn't actually allowed to paint my nails for work reasons. The total cost was $35 for pedicure and there was a promotion going on that gives a free manicure for doing a pedicure. Well... overall, I wasn't all that satisfied with the skills of the staff doing my nails because she mananged to made my thumb bleed while she was trimming my cuticles. Well, she kind of over-trimmed my cuticle and wasn't even aware until she saw the blood oozing out... :( Anyway, it hurts and I was a bit upset but decided not to be hard on her la... since she was rather apologetic. (can't help that I'm too soft-hearted...) After finishing the nail session, one of the staff tried to talk me into taking a promotion package. Didn't she know that her colleague just had an "accident" with my poor thumb?? I contemplated telling her that I wasn't all that impressed with their services but decided to give it a miss. In the end, I just told her I'll think about it.

Anyway, so glad that Monday is still a public holiday. Hope Tuesday won't come so fast cos I'm still in my nice-long-weekend mood... haha. :p

Disney-Pixar Newest Animated Film: UP!!!

Definitely one of the best movie I've seen this year. Thumbs up for the Disney-Pixar team once again!! Wonderful animation with cute characters, hilarious but at the same time heart-warming plot brings the audiences laughter and tears throughout the entire movie. Enough said... one of the must-watch movie of the year! :)

Buffet @ River Garden (Riverview Hotel)

My colleagues and I went for the buffet dinner at Riverview Hotel after work today. The buffet spread was not that much and I actually prefer the pastry and dessert section over the main course selection. My favourites include the bread pudding, the japanese mochi and the durian cake. It was nice to be able to gather together once again for dinner and we had fun talking and laughing. It was a relaxing and light-hearted moment after a long and tedious day at work. We stuffed ourselves with food until we were all so full. By the time we decided to leave, it was already 9.30pm. A few colleagues and I walked to the Clarke Quay MRT station to take the bus/train home. It was a long but nice walk especially after a heavy meal. It would be nice to have more of such gatherings and get-together in future. :)

I need a break... :(

Everyday is like a cycle of waking up, going to work, knocking off from work and going back home. I am definitely in a I-need-a-break kinda mood now... :(

Dinner at V8 Cafe @ Bugis Junction

Finally managed to arrange for a dinner together with two of my close friends from JC since all of us were busy with work. We met up at Bugis yesterday after work and had dinner at the V8 Movie cafe.

It was surprising that after all the revamp and new tenant influx at Bugis Junction, the V8 cafe still remains at the same stow-away position at one corner of the shopping mall. It wasn't my first time there as I still remember visiting it on several occasions quite a few years ago.

The cafe was considerably crowded when we reach there, indicating that business was still brisk considering it's quite out-of-the-way location whereby one wouldn't really notice if they are not specially looking out for it. When we were comfortably settled down and browsing through the menu, it was not hard to realize why V8 cafe is still surviving well. It's menu was loaded with mouth-watering dishes at reasonable pricing. My friends and I had a hard time deciding what to eat because everything looks good.

It was a good dinner get-together and I really hope that we will get to meet up more often in future. :)

It's Ice-cream Time!

Just went to Swensen's today to satisfy my ice-cream craving... :)

Mum and Dad as well as my little cousin shared a topless 5 sundae which was simply 5 scoops of ice-cream whereby you get to choose your own flavours from a range of their speciality ice-cream.

I ordered the Chocolate Crunch sundae which was basically chocolate ice cream covered with hot fudge and loads of crispy chocolate morsels. It was really good and it absolutely satisfied my chocolate craving as well... haha. :)

Cheesecake!! :)

Recently, was back to my baking frenzy. Haven't been baking for a long time and the product for my comeback was what I call YP's original baked cheesecake!! Well, I wasn't kidding, but there are really people who like my cheesecake and most importantly, I'm a big fan of it.. haha! I've been trying to refrain from eating too much at one go for fear of tarnishing my weight loss plans (though I haven't really started working on it.. gosh! not really doing justice to the nice food all around in SG right?) Well, to end it off, here are some nice pics of my yummy cheesecake... Come on people, drool!!!

Changes...

Time passes, people change, our surroundings change, everything changes. I need a change too... and I desperately need one. Life for me is just getting too mandane, too routine and too predictable. One word to sum it all -- BORING!

Maybe that's what people commanly refers to as a quarter life crisis, and I think it's happening to me now. I need a change, be it in my life, my work or even my relationship status or the lack of one.. :(

I need a change in my life and I'm patiently waiting for one...

Earth Day (22 April 2009)

It's Earth Day!

Let celebrate this meaningful occasion by taking steps to save our Earth. No matter how small and minute your contribution is, it makes a difference... :)

1) Plant a tree.

2) Reduce, recycle and reuse.

3) Protecting our environment.

4) Reducing carbon emission.

5) Wear green!! :)

and many many more...

So sad...

Not sure why, but just feeling so sad today.

Maybe it's the monday blues.

Maybe it's a combination of reasons...

or maybe it's just me... :(

I miss school... :(

As I sat on the bus this morning gazing out of the window at the morning rush crowd, my mind starts to wander off to the days when I was still a student in university. Thinking back, I kinda miss school life. The days of attending lectures, mugging in the school library, staying back for projects and having lunch with friends at the various canteens on campus...
I really miss school... :( Hope that I'll have a chance to go back to being a student again...

My Baby Niece

My first niece was officially born on 09/02/09 at KK hospital. And me, I've officially become an aunt. (Oh no... that sounds really old :(...). My niece looks really small and tiny but very cute... haha :) Sorry guys, not posting up any photos. Well... just imagine a cute little baby girl and you'll get it.... hehe.. :)

Happy Birthday!! :)

Tada... my really beautiful b'day cake. Yummy!! :)


Yes, it's happy birthday to ME... :) Time really flies, cos i'm feeling older already :p
Took leave today, not that there's going to be any extravagant celebration (it's recession period leh...) but just because the last thing I want to do is to slog my guts out at work on my supposedly special day... haha :)
Bought a birthday cake from my neighbourhood cake shop this year. Well... It's dad's contribution but I get to choose my own cake :p. Decided not to buy from prima deli or benganwan solo this time round because I have bought numerous times from these places (for my mum, dad, grandmas and myself etc...) and its always more or less the same thing. I saw this chocolate cake which looks really nice and decided to give it a try. Hope it taste just as nice as it looks (cross my fingers... haha).

CNY Festive Mood @ Chinatown

Decided to go down to Chinatown with Dad today since it was nearing the CNY festive season. It will be nice to mingle with the crowd on a Sunday and perk up the festive mood this year. Have taken some photos which I thought would be nice to share if any of you haven't got a chance to go down to Chinatown yet. =)

A stall selling "la wei"

Sweets anyone?

Cute pumpkins, gourds and buddha hand fruits??

Can't really leave out these decorative plants for CNY...

Which one to choose?

Look at all these colourful sweets...

CNY artsy display?

Taiwan Mochi!!!

Ingots for Sale?

Sea of flowers...

Sea of green pamelos...

Two-in-One Steamboat: Bak Kut Teh Soup and Ma La Soup

(We went for steamboat dinner after exploring the streets of Chinatown =))

View of Chinatown from the overhead bridge

Apple Crumble Pie

Was bored stiff today so decided to try my hands on making an apple crumble pie. The final product still looks ok (looks edible lor... haha) but then I thought it taste a bit funny. Let me explain why. Well... the bottom pastry taste alright. The apple filling wasn't that nice because I left the job of buying apples to my dad who couldn't find the nice big and sweet tasting apples. Instead, he came back with the small dark red kind which taste a bit hmmm sour la... Apparently, the sugar i added to make the apple filling wasn't enough to make up for the taste and thus the whole filling thing taste like a mixture of sweet and sour... Well, the crumble taste a bit saltish which I reckon is due to the salted butter used. As usual, I reduced the sugar used to make the crumble because I don't like the whole thing to taste too sweet. Also, because I didn't have any self rising flour which was required according to the recipe, I substituted with the DIY self rising flour (ie plain all purpose flour plus baking soda plus a bit of salt). Now it's time to put all the different tastes together: sweet and sour (apple filling) and a bit of saltiness (the crumble), the resultant taste becomes a bit weird lor... haha...
Well... maybe next time (if I ever decide to make this again), I'll try to blend the taste together so that it taste sweet. Apple crumble pie is supposed to taste sweet rite?
Haha, maybe next time I shall make my cheesecake or cheese tarts instead... =)